Switched
by StormQueen6711
Summary: CHALLENGE! set by darkoraclegirl. When out patrolling, Merlin is attacked by a very old enemy. One that had wanted his power from the very start. What happens when Arthur sees and tries to help? Sequel to 'Shattering'.
1. Soon

_Good Evening! Welcome to the sequel to 'Shattering'. It's been what? 10 days? A record for me :D Anyways, bout this fic. I'm planning on it being more humorous than 'Shattering'. The keyword being _planning_. It's not my fault I suck at writing it :) Soo, if you have any ideas please let me know :D _

_This chapter was kinda the epilogue to 'Shattering' but I liked the last line too and decided.. nahhh have it as the prologue :D So, I hope you enjoy :)_

_Disclaimer: Excuse my slow mind, I kept forgetting to put the disclaimer in the other but anyways there is no way in the world of books and movies - and tv shows - that I own Merlin. I _am_ obsessed with it, and trust me, they're all so amazing, there's no way I'd abandon Merlin :D_

___This is a challenge set by _darkoraclegirl_. Just wait to find out what it's about :P_

_I'm gonna shut up now. Enjoy :D_

* * *

**Soon**

To hear the enraged scream of the Prince of Camelot echoing down the hallways had become a somewhat normal routine.

The Prince would scream after his manservant or his personally knighted friends thirsty for revenge.

It was even worse when Gwaine came up with a dreamy idea and Merlin made it entirely possible.

The servants of Camelot were quite used to seeing the lanky manservant use his magic since most of them were there at the battle nearly a year and a half ago now.

They remembered how the young man had come out and openly used his magic in the reconstruction of Camelot. As the magic took the heavy weight of a young boy's arms. Or polished the floor where a mother was desperately trying to finish polishing it so she can get back to her children.

Step by step, they learnt to trust him and especially his magic again. Magic was always there in the fabric of the world that they cannot truly hate it. Fear it, yes. But never truly hate it.

Even Uther, magic was the reason he had his son but he feared it. Not truly hate it.

It took the a while but eventually it seemed that the Prince was fine with it and they learnt to start trusting it once more.

Well, Arthur was fine with it most of the time. But not this time.

His idiotic friend was always up to something. As much as he enjoyed seeing this new more carefree side to Merlin, he most certainly _hated_ it when he was the target.

The last time, Merlin made Arthur start braying again because the Prince had given Merlin a _huge_ list of chores to do, _without_ magic. And the time before that, his sword handle had 'mysteriously' turned pink with purple ribbons and a bendy blade. And the time before that his boots had turned gold with red high heels. And the time before that... well, you get the idea.

It had taken Arthur quite some time to get used to Merlin using his magic openly.

At the start, he wasn't very open like he usually was. But eventually, after weeks of watching his knights ask for demonstrations and seeing some spectacular things, after weeks of watching Gwen smile at Merlin as he gave her a rose or a strawberry, or have the magic mend or work on whatever it was that she was working on.

He learnt to trust his friend once more. He realised that he hadn't hated Merlin for magic. He hated the fact that he might have lost his one true and first friend.

The two were even more inseparable than in the past.

Magic was still outlawed but with many sorcerers starting to come out of hiding, Uther couldn't keep all of them in line. _Especially_ since they were now under the protection of Merlin _and_ Arthur. As long as they swore their allegiance to Emrys and Camelot.

The Knights and Camelot's citizens, who were at the battle were quicker to trust and soon they were trying to help those sorcerers who were in need of help because of being on the run for a really long time.

It was the start of Camelot's Golden Age. That doesn't go to say that it was perfect.

Uther was still on the throne, some of Morgana's remaining army was trying to regroup somewhere to the far north and some of Camelot's allies through the destruction of magic were getting restless.

But at this moment, everybody took it as a chance to rest and recover, not letting their guard down completely but enough to enjoy their couple of years of almost freedom and peace.

However, knowing the Prince and his friends, something was surely going to be happening.

Probably.

Soon.

* * *

_Good, bad, doesn't make sense? Please tell me what you think._

_Cya all soon! Storm._


	2. Chapter 1

_I am SOOOO sorry about that wait and I won't bore you with my excuses. Thanks to everyone for those reviews and favs and follows! That was amazing! _

_Also thanks to _shadow visor_ for reading and beta-ing this for me :D_

_Hope you enjoy :D_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Merlin, Gwaine!" Arthur growled. "Will you two just _SHUT UP_!?" he finally lost his patience and it seems as though the other knights were finding it partly annoying, partly amusing.

The two friends hadn't closed their mouths since they had set out from Camelot - an act of revenge since they hadn't wanted to go anywhere in the first place.

The small group had set out on a quick patrol. Mainly to get Merlin out from under Uther's nose - he had been tempted to do quite some disturbing things to the King like with the goblin - and partly to check on the northern borders where they had heard a rumour of Morgana's remaining army had finally managed to reach a sufficient number.

If it had to come to a fight, then the seven of them would be able to handle themselves. No matter the odds.

They did have Merlin on their side after all.

His powers had grown even stronger now that he could practice his magic freely. As long as Uther or the other older councillors don't see him.

It had been a strange two years. It had its ups and downs but it was worth it. The Round Table was finally equal especially with Arthur and Gwen's upcoming engagement and Merlin being - unofficially of course, they weren't at that stage yet - the future King's personal advisor.

They decided to set camp for night in a slightly hidden clearing where they can still see their surroundings and the road but were hidden from the main path.

It didn't take long and soon they were all fast asleep in their bedrolls with Percival standing watch for the first shift.

* * *

The sense of strong magic hit him hard, it was quite surprising that he felt it that strongly when he was asleep. He rolled over and stumbled to his feet, keeping his eyes on the clearing line.

He strode forward carefully, the magic aiding him and muffling his footsteps.

With a softly muttered spell he scanned the surrounding vicinity. What he didn't expect was for it to have been coming from behind. Though he swore that it had come the front, the person had obviously been circling them.

Letting the defences on his mind down slightly, he searched for any foreign auras and thoughts. A skill that had just been acquired recently and a _special _gift from connecting with the_ other _world _m_ore than once. Nobody knew about this of course. Other than Gaius... and Arthur... and Gwaine... and Gwen... in other words, all his close friends.

Thinking back to those times was not a good idea when you had a strong sorcerer circling you with your mental defences down. Not good at all.

And so he was taught that lesson once more. It was starting to be a bad habit of his.

He feels something crawling towards him. It felt somewhat familiar. He'd felt this presence before. He was sure of it!

Spinning around, he felt his blood freeze.

It couldn't be. It just couldn't! He'd barely survived the last time! _And_ that had been with the Dragon's help!

The words from the last time echoed around his head:

_"If you will not join me, I will become you and your power will be harnessed to my will."_

Sigan!

He felt the presence twist around him as it had all those years ago and hoping for the best, he called onto that same power.

_"Ic þín sáwol hér beléac, abide þæt ic þé álíese!" _

He started panicking. It wasn't working. He could feel Sigan start to burn his way through him once more.

In a moment of desperation, after having tried the spell with at least three different changes, he screamed.

"ARTHUR!"

He struggled with all his might. He would not give. Not now, now after everything that has happened, he couldn't lose now.

Suddenly, someone bawled into him and they both tumbled over on the forest floor.

He gasped tried to suck in as much air as he could and suddenly coughed. A shiny blue ball flew out that was eerily familiar and panic struck once more as Arthur shifted and hit into the ball.

* * *

He'd thought that things had settled down slowly with Merlin and that maybe, just maybe, they could have some peace even if for just a little while... but then that scream had woken them all up.

He saw Merlin gasp and start to panic. Which was bad. Merlin _never_ panics. He did the first thing he could think of and started to run towards his friend.

He stumbled over one of the now-waking knights and and bawled straight into Merlin. It was _not _his fault! It's dark and he couldn't see.

He stumbled back up onto his feet and felt himself gasp as something made contact with him just as Merlin was about to shout out to him, probably warning him against doing that.

But, seriously, it felt amazing. He didn't know _exactly_ what it was but it felt familiar to him, which was... unnerving.

He looked around and saw things which he would never, could never have imagined before. The swirling of colours, the different auras of life, the _magic_ swirling around everything.

He looked down at his hands and saw tiny little swirls of blue, barely noticeable that it blends in with his physical body. He looked towards his knights and saw the same thing, swirls of reds, greens, purples, yellows were all evident and the he looked towards Merlin.

He couldn't hold back the breath that escaped him.

Merlin was kneeling over, looking sick... he went over to his friend and touched his shoulder. Immediately, Merlin lifted his head and looked into Arthur's eyes and repeated a spell.

_"Ic þín sáwol hér beléac, abide þæt ic þé álíese!" _

Arthur felt his eyes heat up and a slight headache start to build as Merlin's eyes also flashed a deep gold which then turned into solid black irises as he collapsed.

* * *

He saw Arthur examine the world around him in glazed eyes. It was nice in a strange way to have someone else see the world the way he did. It always was refreshing. Then he saw Arthur turn to him and run over, ready to help his friend.

Merlin couldn't be grateful enough for the moment that Arthur put his hand on his shoulder. He felt the presence shift and try to attack the magic.

_But. _The magic wasn't in him for it to attack while it was in his body.

Thinking quickly he tried the spell again and felt it again. The experience being one not to forget easily or quickly.

He felt himself collapse and shudder and the last thought that passed through his mind as he lost consciousness was how he hadn't wanted any of his friends to see this.

* * *

_I hope that this was okay , let me know what you think._

_I also might not be able to update again for quite a while because of exams coming up._

_Until then, see ya!_

_Storm._


	3. Author's Note Sorry Guys :

Heyy guys.

I am _soooo_ sorry but I have to do this. I just got back some of my results, they're not that bad but I am _not_ happy with them. Especially the English written which kinda dropped my confidence in writing quite a bit. So until I get settled, fix my grades up and all that crappy stuff, I'm going to be blocking _everything_ which can be distracting. Which unfortunately also include FF . net Not the writing but I just need to slow down on the reading – it's brilliant, what can I say!

Hopefully, I will _not_ stop writing and when I do come back, I hope that the chapters will be longer and better and that it will not take a couple of months before I update again.

Also, I will _not_ be abandoning _any_ of my stories at all! Even if its been _months_, I am not abandoning any of my stories. (kind of to convince myself :P )

Thank you guys for all your fantastic support and feedback! You truly are a wonderful bunch :D

Good luck to all of you who still have studying and exams and all that. I wish you all the best! :D

Thanks for all your support guys!

Hope to see you all really soon!

Storm.


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